


And In Healing

by KyeAbove



Series: The Reinforcement Of Agony AU [45]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Past Character Death, Past Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-04
Updated: 2019-02-04
Packaged: 2019-10-22 00:47:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17652815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KyeAbove/pseuds/KyeAbove
Summary: April 3rd, 1934. Cade Vale, New York. Agony:ConsumingJoey has in his possession one of the journals of his great-great grandfather.





	And In Healing

~April 3rd, 1934~

* * *

Joey only had the journal because Casper had it and had left it lying around. It was worthless to him, really. He’d never even opened it to see its contents.  He was functionally illiterate. Never could get a grasp on words and letters most people used. His father never sent him to school, if that would have even helped.

Poor illiterate Jo Andrews with his inability to do even basic math too, Henry educated up until age twelve, would imply. But Joey didn’t care. It was one opinion of Henry’s he’d never cared about.

Then one day the journal was on his desk, with a mark sitting in one page, and a paper with witch-script written on it atop it. That, he could read. While his grandmother tried and failed to teach him anything else, he’d taken easily to reading from his grandmother’s spellbooks. The script was a note, from Casper himself.

**_Hello, witchbrat, read that entry. The book is all in script anyways which you’d know if you’d looked. With regrets, Casper._ **

Clearly it was important if Casper left a note in script. And this had to be the book of a witch to be written in scripts. So, Joey sat down at his desk, and pulled the journal closer. It was far, far older than he was, so he opened it carefully to the page Casper wanted him to read, and read the scripts.

_ July 22nd, 1843, _

_ I had another terrible dream last night. But what was this dream but simply my own guilt clawing away at my heart? _

_ I still cannot believe its been so many years since I fell ill to evil. Put revenge above my heart. Henry Ross might have betrayed me… _

Joey paused his reading. So this man knew a Henry too? The name alone was numbing. Reeked of betrayal. So, Joey went back to his reading to push down his bubbling raged thoughts.

_ …but Max never did. Max’s screams haunted that dream. Lips speaking words I did not listen to. I remember how Max used to say my name. Fondly, joyfully. My wife betrayed my heart with that son of hers she left me to raise, but Max never would have.  _

_ But I was blinded! My rage over what Ross did was stronger than my love for Max. I was a fool to use Max to make Ross suffer. I do hope the old gods have something terrible planned for me, and better for Max. Max always deserved better. Much better than I could have ever been. _

_ Our daughter together is grown and she has a family of her own now. That Andrews man treats her well. They just most recently had a daughter, and finally decided upon naming her Josephine… _

Joey stopped reading. Josephine Andrews had been his grandmother. Who he was even named for. So this was a relative of his,  who wrote in witch-scripts. Who’d likely killed the other parent to his daughter. 

But regretted it? 

Just seemed so odd.

_ I worry though for Max’s other daughter. That Evans man treats her like an object. To bear children only. Max would be devastated. Max’s very wish in life was to live life untrapped. _

_ If Max still lived to this day, she would be free. Max would have seen the warning signs I didn’t. Max is surely enraged with me.  _

_ Would it be wrong to visit Max’s grave after all these years? It likely would. I do hope that many wonderful flowers have grown there. Max always loved flowers.  _

_ As much as I loved Max. _

_ Ernest Hatheway, Healing _

The entry ended like it was customary to sign off in script. Name, and type of magical core. That was the same magic core Joey had. Now, at least he knew where in his family he and his grandmother had gotten their specific magic from. 

Joey wasn’t sure what to think. What was Casper’s angle here? Was he trying to make some point, or simply though Joey would find the info interesting?

Well, he did. Past his grandmother, who may have known the history but was never able to pass it on, he knew nothing of why he was born the way he was. Healing. It was all physical. Joey certainly couldn’t heal a broken heart. 

Neither could Ernest it seemed. But Ernest had more reason. Someone he’d hurt badly. Whereas Henry was just lost from him. 

Joey closed the journal. Maybe he’d look at the other entries now that he knew he could read them. It would certainly give him insight into his magic, and his history. 

He doubted that was Casper’s intent. Casper always had a plan. Clearly Casper was planning something and this journal was a part of it. 

Joey just needed to undermine Casper before he could use Joey, again. 

**Author's Note:**

> More on Ernest, Max, and Henry Ross will be touches upon in later works. After all, there is a good reason for HR’s name. Which might be clear if you’ve dug deep enough in this series' secrets. 
> 
> Casper is descended from the son who is not Ernest’s son, so while Casper’s lineage carries on the name, he’s not biologically related in any way to the Drews.


End file.
